Clockwork mechanism for short interval alarm timer



J3me 6, 1967 R. P. JACCARD CLOGKWORK MECHANISM FOR SHORT INTERVAL ALARM TIMER Filed Sept. 10, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet J June 6, 1967 RF. JACCARD CLOCKWORK MECHANISM FOR SHORT INTERVAL ALARM TIMER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 10, 1965 f June 6, 1967 I R. P. JACCARD 3,323,303

CLOCKWORK MECHANISM FOR SHORT INTERVAL ALARM TIMER Filed Sept. 10, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet June 6, 1967 R P. JACCARD 3,323,303

CLOCKWORK MECHANISM FOR SHORT INTERVAL ALARM TIMER Filed Sept. 10, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG.4

United States Patent 3,323,303 CLOCKWORK MECHANISM FOR SHORT INTERVAL ALARM TIMER Ren P. Jaccard, Petit-Lancy, Geneva, Switzerland, as-

signor to Mr. Kaufman, 230 5th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10001 Filed Sept. 10, 1965, Ser. No. 486,374 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Sept. 17, 1964, 12,101/64 5 Claims. (Cl. 58-21.13)

This invention relates to clockwork mechanisms. More particularly, this invention relates to clockwork mechanisms particularly adapted to be set to indicate the passage of a predetermined interval of time, such as by sounding an alarm signal.

Everyone is familiar with time measuring devices (i.e., timers) which, after a predetermined interval of time, sound an alarm signal. They are used primarily in kitchens and laboratories. These are clockwork movements of simplified design, though they are provided with a driving member, a gear train, an escapement, an oscillator and an alarm device, all of which operate only during the interval of time to be checked. We are likewise familiar with timers in which, for the sake of simplification, the motor device is a coil spring and the oscillator is a balance which does not have any spiral. These timing mechanisms, which are not used regularly and which have a mechanism that has been simplified, cannot be made to operate with very great reliability and precision.

According to an embodiment of this invention, there is provided a clockwork mechanism comprising a timer wheel and a time wheel, said timer wheel being rotatably mounted on a movable pivot and said time wheel being rotatably mounted on a stationary pjvot, means to move the timer wheel into engagement with the time wheel by moving said movable pivot toward said stationary pivot, setting means mounted to be hand movable into engagement with said timer wheel when said timer wheel is in engagement with said time wheel, and responding means mounted to rotate with said timer wheel and adapted to respond to the return of the timer wheel to an unset position by mechanically acting in a predetermined manner actuated by said return.

In further accordance with the invention, the means to move the timer wheel into engagement with the time wheel comprises clutch-lever means articulated at the center of the clockwork, said hand operable setting means is mounted on said clutch-lever means, said clutch-lever means defines an inclined plane at one of its edges and an edge of said clutch-lever means contiguous with said inclined plane is concentric with respect to the center of the clockwork, and there are provided a second lever, an arbor mounted on the second lever at a point remote from the pivot of the second lever, said timer wheel being mounted on said arbor, said clutch-lever means being mounted with said inclined plane juxtaposed to said arborso that upon rotation of said clutch-lever first said inclined plane engages said arbor and then said concave edge engages said arbor whereby said arbor is moved toward said time wheel and carries the timer wheel into And, in further accordance with the invention, the means to move'said pinion into engagement wtih said teeth includes a plate mounted to rotate with said pinion and a member mounted on said clutch-lever to extend beyond the periphery of said convex edge and upon movement of said clutch-lever to abut against an edge of said plate and thereby move said plate whereby said plate carries said pinion into engagement with said teeth.

In yet further accordance with the invention, the alarm further includes a hammer and said clockwork mechanism further includes a mechanism operable to block operation of the hammer.

In still further accordance with the invention, the mechanism operable to block operation of the hammer includes an arbor and two arms mounted to rotate together on said arbor and said responding means is a circular cam having a notch defined in its edge, said arms and said cam being positioned so that the free end of one of the arms abuts against the edge of the cam and when the portion of the cam edge thus abutted against is ci-rcular the free end of the other arm abuts against the hammer thereby blocking operation of the hammer and when the portion of the cam edge thus abutted against is notched said free end of said other arm is spaced from the hammer thereby allowing the hammer to operate.

According to a specific embodiment, this invention relates to a clockwork mechanism characterized by two wheels, the first of which is tightly fitted onto a runner of the gear train and therefore may be termed a time wheel and the second, a time'measuring wheel or timer wheel which is normally held slightly away from the first wheel by a device by means of which, by putting the second wheel into mesh with the first, this second Wheel can be made to revolve through an angle corresponding to a predetermined time interval until it comes back to the zero point, at which time another device sets off an alarm. v The attached drawing shows, by way of example, one working form of this invention and one variant.

FIGURE 1 is a plan view broken away to show details of construction of the clockword mechanism;

FIGURE 2 is a detail view of an arm mechanism shown in inoperative position;

FIGURE 3 is the same as FIGURE 2 for the operative position of the mechanism;

FIGURE 4 is a detail view of the parts of the alarm device in their operative position;

FIGURE 5 is the same as FIGURE 4 for the inoperative position, and

FIGURE 6 is a section along VI-VI of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 7 shows a section of the alternative embodiment.

The working embodiment shown, which constitues an alarm clock, is composed of (see in particular FIGURES 1 and 6): a casing ring 1, a top plate 2, the movement barrel or mainspring 3, the alarm barrel 4. Also shown are the minute wheel-work formed by the minute wheel 5 and the minute pinion 6 which drives the hour wheel 7, the driving wheel 13 located beneath the hour Wheel, the timer wheel 15 and the cam 30. This movement, of customary type design, includes a gear train, an escapement, a spiral balance oscillator and an alarm mechanism which are not shown in the drawing.

The timing mechanism includes a dial 8 fastened'to the casing ring by a bridge 9, the right-hand side of which has been cut out in the drawing for the sake of clarity.

A hand moves above this dial and indicates after what interval of time the alarm mechanism of the timer will be set into play.

As seen in FIGURE 2, this mechanism is made up of a clutch-lever 10 articulated on the center of the movement,

a a spiral motor-spring 11, fastened on one side to a post 12 which is integral with this clutch-lever, and also to the casing ring 1. A driving wheel 13 is tightly fitted onto the minute arbor 14. A timer wheel 15, having the same number of teeth as the driving wheel 13, revolves on the arbor 16 which is integral with an arm 17 pivoted about an arbor 18. Tension on this arm is exerted by a spring 19 in order to keep it leaning against a steady-pin 20. Driving wheel 13 may be referred to as a time Wheel since it is fixed on minute arbor 14.

The clutch-lever is made up of an inclined plane 21 and a wall 22 concentric with the minute arbor 14, located next to the arbor 16 of the timer wheel 15.

A hand-setting gear train is placed on the clutch-lever. It includes a pinion 23 firmly fastened to the winding stem 24, a bevel gear 25 and an intermediate wheel 26. A toothing 27 is cut into the outer edge of the clutchlever and comes into play with the alarm pinion 28. The clutch-lever holds a slightly elastic pin 29.

FIGURE 4 represents the parts of an alarm device which includes a cam 30, solidly fastened to the timer wheel and superimposed upon it. A notch 31 is made in the outer edge of this cam. The blocking mechanism is formed by an arbor 32 pivoting, on the one hand, in the lower plate of the movement, and, on the other hand, in the movable plate 33 provided with a notch 34 on its outer edge. Arm 35, bent at its end to come into contact with the cam 30, and arm 37, likewise bent to come into contact with the hammer 38, are interlocked with the arbor 32. The hammer turns on an arbor 39 which is provided with an alarm escapement lever 40, the wheel 41 of which is interlocked with the arbor 42 on which the pinion 28 is cut in.

This alarm device functions as follows:

In the resting state, the clutch-lever is in the position shown in FIGURE 2. The timer wheel 15 and the intermediate wheel 26 are kept out of contact with the driving wheel 13, so that the alarm clock movement does not act upon the timer wheel, and is therefore not disturbed. The blocking mechanism is in the position shown in FIGURE 5. The end of arm 35 has fallen into the notch 31 in the cam, and the end of arm 37 is away from the hammer 38. The teeth 27 of the clutch-lever are in gear with the alarm pinion 28.

When the operator wishes to make use of the timer, he makes the clutch-lever rotate by moving the button 45 which sticks out from the side of the case, bringing it into the position shown in FIGURE 3. During this operation the inclined plane 21 has come into contact with the arbor 16 and made the timer wheel 15 and its arm 17 rotate around the arbor 18, in such a way that this wheel comes into mesh with the driving-wheel 13. At this point the arbor 16, as a result of the tension of the spring 19, comes to rest on the cylindrical wall 22. The movement of the clutch-lever is limited by its wall 46 coming to rest against a stud 47 driven into the plate 2; hereupon the intermediate wheel 26 is in mesh with the timer wheel 15. When the button 45 is rotated, the timer wheel and the driving-wheel are consequently rotated to a position the angular displacement of which corresponds to the amount of time after which the alarm is to be set off.

When the operator releases the clutch-lever, the pin 29 puts the pinion 28 into mesh with the teeth 27, coming into contact with the notch 34 of the plate 33 and making it rotate. Due to the tension of the motor-spring 11 which has now been set, the clutch-lever comes to a stop in the position shown in FIGURE 3; in this position, wheels 13 and 15 are kept in mesh, whereas the contrary is now true of wheel 15 and the intermediate wheel 26.

The arm 35 of the blocking-mechanism rests against the edge of the cam 30, while its other arm 37 holds the hammer 38 still and thus impedes any rotation of the alarm wheel 41 and its pinion 28, and immobilizes the clutch-lever.

As a result of the movement of setting the clutch-lever (a movement which is a rotation in clockwise direction) and of the contact of the teeth 27 with the pinion 28, the arbor 42 has rotated, moving pinion 28 away from the toothing 27 so that the setting movement does not carry over to the hammer, and the alarm device still remains quiet.

Once the operator has proceeded to set the timer-wheel to the right time and frees the clutch-lever which turns in a counterclockwise direction as a result of the tension of the motor-spring 11, the pin 29 comes into contact with the notch 34 in the movable plate 33 and makes it rotate.

Due to this rotation of the movable plate 33, the alarm pinion 28 is put in gear with the teeth 27. Since the blocking mechanism holds the hammer and the escapement still, the lever thus remains in the position shown in FIGURE 3.

As time goes by, the driving wheel 13 makes the timer Wheel 15 turn and the cam 30 which is interlocked with it. At the end of the waiting period, the extremity of arm 35 of the blocking mechanism drops into the notch 31 in the cam 30, resulting in the rotation of the arbor 32 and the retraction of arm 37 from the hammer 38. The latter, which has now been set free, begins to oscillate, driven by its lever40, the escapement wheel41, the pinion 28, and the teeth 27 of the clutch-lever due to the effect of the motor-spring 11.

At the end of its run, the clutch-lever comes up against the stud and the alarm is interrupted.

During the time the alarm is sounding, the arbor 16 of the timer wheel 15 has slipped over onto the wall 22 and then onto the inclined plane 21, to resume its rest position, bringing the Wheel back into the position in which it is not in gear with the driving wheel 14.

The variant shown in FIGURE 7 makes it possible to set the alarm device to go off after a time interval of twelve hours at most. 7 According to the FIGURE 7 embodiment, two systems are arranged on the arbor 16 fastened to arm 17: the first, made up of the minute timer-wheel 15, the cam 30 provided with a notch 31, the minute-pinion 48; and the second, made up of the hour timer-wheel 49 and the hour cam 50, also having a notch 51. An arbor set into the arm 17 freely holds a wheel 53 and a pinion 54 which transmits the movement of wheel 15 to wheel 49 in a ratio of 12 to 1.

The hour (55) and minute (56) hands show on the dial 8 the time interval after which the alarm is set to go off.

The arm 35 of the blocking mechanism presses simultaneously on the two cams, which both have the same diameter. The device is set 011 only at the point when the two notches 31 and 51 of the two cams are placed one right above the other, the position for which the two hands on the dial are at zero.

The invention in question is not limited to the working form and alternate form described and shown in the drawing, but could likewise include a clockwork movement without any alarm mechanism, such as a' table or wall clock. The hand-set button could be located on one of the faces of the case, instead of being on the side; in this case, the bevel gear of the hand-setting gear train would be replaced by a flat gear.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a clockwork mechanism having a movement;

(A) a timer wheel rotatably mounted on a moveable pivot;

(B) a time wheel rotatably mounted on a stationary pivot;

(C) clutch lever pivoted on said movement for bringing said timer wheel into engagement with said time wheel and having an inclined plane and a concave edge contiguous to said plane and concentric with respect to the center of said clockwork;

(D) hand-operable setting means mounted on said clutch lever and movable into engagement with said timer wheel when said timer wheel is in engagement with said time wheel;

(E) a second pivoted lever;

(F) an arbor mounted on said second lever at a point remote from the pivot point thereof; said timer wheel being mounted on said arbor; said clutch lever being mounted with said inclined plane juxtaposed to said arbor so that upon rotation of said clutch lever, said inclined plane engages said arbor and then said concave edge engages said arbor whereby said arbor moves toward said time wheel and carries said timer wheel into engagement with said time wheel; and

(G) an alarm device having responding means mounted for rotation with said timer wheel and adapted to respond to the return of said timer wheel to an unset position by acting in a predetermined manner actuated by said return.

2. A clockwork mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said clutch-lever has opposite said concave edge, a convex edge concentric with respect to the center of the clockwork and having teeth thereon; said alarm including an alarm wheel, a pinion movably mounted in juxtaposition to said convex edge and to rotate with said alarm wheel, and means to move said pinion into engagement with said teeth.

3. A clockwork mechanism according to claim 2, wherein said means to move said pinion into engagement with said teeth includes a plate having an edge mounted to rotate with said pinion and a member mounted on said clutch-lever to extend beyond the periphery of said convex edge and upon movement of said clutch-lever to abut against said edge of said plate and thereby move said plate whereby said plate carries said pinion into engagement with said teeth.

4. A clockwork mechanism according to claim 2, wherein said alarm further includes a hammer and said clockwork mechanism further includes a mechanism operable to block operation of the hammer.

5. A clockwork mechanism according to claim 4, wherein said mechanism operable to block operation of the hammer comprises an arbor and two arms having free ends mounted to rotate together on said arbor and having responding means comprising a circular cam having an edge and a notch therein, said arms and said cam being positioned so that the free end of one of the arms abuts against the edge of the cam and when the portion of the cam edge thus abutted against is circular, the free end of the other arm abuts against the hammer thereby blocking operation of the hammer and when the portion of the cam edge thus abutted against is notched, said free end of said other arm is spaced from the hammer thereby allowing the hammer to operate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,145,591 7/1915 Jefferson 58-21.14 X 2,621,467 12/1952 DAngely et al 58-2l.14

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner.

G. F. BAKER, Assidtant Examiner. 

1. IN A CLOCKWORK MECHANISM HAVING A MOVEMENT; (A) A TIMER WHEEL ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON A MOVEABLE PIVOT; (B) A TIME WHEEL ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON A STATIONARY PIVOT; (C) CLUTCH LEVER PIVOTED ON SAID MOVEMENT FOR BRINGING SAID TIMER WHEEL INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID TIME WHEEL AND HAVING AN INCLINED PLANE AND A CONCAVE EDGE CONTIGUOUS TO SAID PLANE AND CONCENTRIC WITH RESPECT TO THE CENTER OF SAID CLOCKWORK; (D) HAND-OPERABLE SETTING MEANS MOUNTED ON SAID CLUTCH LEVER AND MOVABLE INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID TIMER WHEEL WHEN SAID TIMER WHEEL IS IN ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID TIME WHEEL; (E) A SECOND PIVOTED LEVER; (F) AN ARBOR MOUNTED ON SAID SECOND LEVER AT A POINT REMOTE FROM THE PIVOT POINT THEREOF; SAID TIMER WHEEL BEING MOUNTED ON SAID ARBOR; SAID CLUTCH LEVER BEING MOUNTED WITH SAID INCLINED PLANE JUXTAPOSED TO SAID ARBOR SO THAT UPON ROTATION OF SAID CLUTCH LEVER, SAID INCLINED PLANE ENGAGES SAID ARBOR AND THEN SAID CONCAVE EDGE ENGAGES SAID ARBOR WHEREBY SAID ARBOR MOVES TOWARD SAID TIME WHEEL AND CARRIES SAID TIMER WHEEL INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID TIME WHEEL; AND (G) AN ALARM DEVICE HAVING RESPONDING MEANS MOUNTED FOR ROTATION WITH SAID TIMER WHEEL AND ADAPTED TO RESPOND TO THE RETURN OF SAID TIMER WHEEL TO AN UNSET POSITION BY ACTING IN A PREDETERMINED MANNER ACTUATED BY SAID RETURN. 